An Attempt of Affection
by Azurerin
Summary: Naoto has been having a problem with her way of showing her feelings ever since she was small. But this time, she wouldn't let someone important to her to have a wrong idea because of that, feeling so, she decided to show her affections, more explicitly.


**Author's Note**: The idea for this story struck me when I'm in the middle of my finals, (Yeah, stressed out people can get some crazy ideas, you know?) and since I've never created any one-shot, I decided to create this story as my first attempt to do so. And, of course, the pairing here is Souji x Naoto. Please enjoy...

Disclaimer : I didn't own Persona...

* * *

An Attempt of Affection

*Ding-dong*

"_Oh, the class was over already.._." The detective thought to herself as she stood from her seat and packed her belongings into her bag. "_Hmm... I wonder what I'll do before going home..._" As she thought of her plan, she closed her bag with a soft '_click_' sound, and head to the class' exit, but then, before she reached the exit, something crossed her mind.

_"No... I shouldn't bother him right now, he had told me that he'll be busy in his club for this week..."_ thought the sleuth as she shook her head with a frown in her face and headed outside. "I guess, I'll head directly home."

The navy haired girl slide the door open, and head right towards the lockers, but before she could reached the lockers, she heard a familiar voice calling out to her.

"Naoto!"

Hearing her name being called, the sleuth turned her head to the direction of the coming voice, which actually is in front of her class. There, stood a grey haired boy, carrying his own bag while leaning at the wall. Just when the greyish-blue irises found its object, the grey-haired boy walked to her direction.

"S-senpai? I thought you're busy in your club?"

"Well, I have something more important to attend to today."

"Oh... And if I may know about it, what is it?" the detective asked with a curious expression on her face.

"To walk you home." the grey-haired youth answered simply.

"H-huh?" the sleuth's eyes widened while her cheeks started to turn red. "Th-that's less important than the club! I-I think it's not wise for you to be with me right now, not when your friends in the club are working hard and all..."

"I'm just joking, Naoto. You're so funny." the leader chuckled while looking at his detective's annoyed face. "Okay, okay, actually we have finished our last practice yesterday, so today, I'm free."

"Senpai, I never understand why you liked to tease me so much?"

"I'm not teasing you, I only say what I really meant, you know?" Right after he said that, he chuckled once more when he saw that the sleuth's face deepened with more color than it was. "Now, shall we go? Do you want to head directly home? Or maybe you wanted to go somewhere else? I'll keep you in company today."

"The hill." the girl said swiftly without looking at the boy's face. That place holds a fond memory for both of them, and sometimes they would go there to reminisce or just to enjoy the view together. Unrealized by herself, her lips formed a soft smile when she said it, but fortunately, Souji caught her tender expression, which made him smile as well.

"Yeah, it's been a while since we went there last time. Let's go." the young leader answered while signaling Naoto to head to the bus station together.

* * *

"This place is always beautiful..." the young detective said with a smile adorning her delicate face.

"Yes, it is. Especially when I view it with a certain someone, like, right now?" the grey-haired boy said while he looked at someone beside him, with a teasing smile formed on his lips.

"S-senpai! Please stop that!" the navy-haired girl blurted swiftly, her face blushed with color once more, but this time, with a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance, even though the annoyance feeling he gave her is always volatile, which will be gone completely in the matter of seconds.

"Alright, alright... I'm sorry, okay?" the silverette said as he tried to hold his laughter when he saw her reaction. After calming himself, he fixed his eyes on hers, uniting their gaze, then, slowly and hesitantly, he continued on, ignoring the heat which rose to his cheeks. "It's just that... I haven't had a chance to have some time with you lately, so... I... might've gotten overjoyed to be with you right now..." The young leader said with a tender gaze glittering in his eyes and an awkward but sincere smile adorning his lips.

Seeing such a face of her loved one, she couldn't help but to smile back at him, trying to ignore the flow of heat to her cheeks in the same time.

After a while of gazing each other, both of them took their time to enjoy the view of Inaba from the hill as well as each other's presence. As the young detective gazed at the grey, cloudy sky, thoughts started to cross her mind, "_Those grey irises... That's the most beautiful grey color ever... And that sincere smile which he'll only give for me..._"

Thoughts started to flow rapidly into her mind, as she remembered how she always adores him in so many ways. He's a natural leader, who's serious, fearless, tactical, but loved by everyone in the same time. He's also a very good friend and family, who's always been able to be a support, proved by the amount of his loyal friends, but as a lover, he turned out to be a very different person, he still is a very nice and caring figure, but the way he shows his affections is in a completely different manner. His affections for her are always honest and sincere. He also showed her some things that the others never saw in him, his embarrassed expression, his sincere smile and sometimes, his sad face too, the one which he never showed to anybody else, except her. And with each time she saw him showing his love and affections to her in his own way, she would end up in adoring and loving him even more.

"_Showing affections...?" _the sleuth thought to herself. She had been having quite a problem with her implicit way of showing her affections, which ever turned out to be a misunderstanding in her past. As she thought about all this, she realized that she hasn't really showed her leader any explicit affection. Suddenly, fear started to seep slowly into her heart, in the form of a thought "_What'll happen if he thought that I don't care about him? But... He should know that I care for him a lot, since we wouldn't be together if I didn't... S-should I show it in a more explicit manner? I-I--_"

"Naoto? Naoto? Are you there, Naoto?" the silverette called out to her while waving one of his hands in front of her face.

"O-oh! Yes! What is it, senpai?" the blunette stammered.

"Are you okay? You've been daydreaming."

"I-I'm fine, senpai, thank you for your concern, I was just... thinking about some things..."

"Oh, okay... And one more thing, Naoto, can you please stop calling me 'senpai'? You can just call me with my first name. Calling me 'senpai' made me feel... a little bit distant." the grey-haired youth said while forcing a smile to his lips, which resulted in a sad-like-smile.

Seeing Souji's expression, Naoto felt as if it's her own heart that would be broken into pieces, then slowly, she said to him, "I-I'm sorry... Souji-kun... I'm very sorry..."

"That sounds better. And, don't you worry about that. I know that you're a very polite person to begin with, which is very good, but you don't need to be so formal with me, take the load off your shoulder, and just be yourself." the grey-haired leader said with a soft smile forming on his lips.

"Y-yes, Souji-kun, thank you..."

"It's okay. Well then, shall we go home now? It's almost evening."

"Yes, sure thing."

After she said that, the young leader turned his body, expecting the sleuth to do the same beside him, but at that time, thoughts have been pouring rapidly inside the sleuth's mind.

_"That face... It's because of me... I... I must--"_

Just when the silverette was about to take his first step, a hand tugged on his shirt from behind. He turned around, and found his lover, with a red shade on her cheeks. Curious, the youth asked, "What is it, Naoto?"

"S-Souji-kun... Can you please lower your head down a little bit?" the detective asked, with an embarrassed expression on her face.

"Huh? Sure, but what is it for, Nao--"

_"Now!"_

The grey-haired youth bowed down his head a little bit while he said that, but before the young leader can finish his sentence, he felt something soft and warm is being pressed onto a small part of his lower lips and his chin. In his surprise, he found out that apparently, Naoto was standing on her tip-toes, trying meet up her lips with his. Unfortunately, due to their height difference, she missed. The incident took place in just a blink of an eye, resulting in a dumbstruck Souji and an embarrassed Naoto, both of their faces were as red as a fresh-boiled crab.

"... Na-Naoto..." The leader stammered with a deep blush in his face as he extends one of his hands to her cheek, caressing it softly.

"S-Souji-kun... I-I--"

Just when the detective was about to explain her action earlier, the thumb from his hand which caressed her cheek touched her lips softly, causing her to left her explanation unspoken.

"Psst... It's okay..."

As Souji said that, their tender gazes met each other, each orb is fixed to the other one in front of it. The leader drew his face closer to hers, trying to close the distance between them. While Naoto, realizing what's coming to her, closed her eyes and let his lips met hers. After that, Souji closed the distance between them, pressing his own lips on hers, and as a response, the detective encircled her arms around his neck for her support.

When they broke the kiss, they could feel the heat on their faces, their heavy breaths and the fast beats of their hearts. Still with her reddened face, the sleuth decided to break the awkward silence.

"S-Souji-kun... I wanted you to know that... that... I lo--"

"I love you, Naoto."

"H-huh?"

"I. Love. You. Naoto Shirogane."

"Hmmph! That's my line, Souji-kun! Don't cut my line like that!" Naoto answered as she laughed naturally.

Souji, who saw her laughter, couldn't help himself but to laugh as well. After they have calmed down from their laughter, the leader asked.

"Should we head back now?"

"Yes, of course." the blue-haired girl replied as her lips formed a smile.

* * *

After they went back from the hill, Souji decided to walk his girlfriend home, on the way to her home, the leader asked the detective jokingly.

"By the way, Naoto, what's up with you today? You didn't act like that normally. Well, not that I disliked this though." the silverette asked with a teasing smile on his lips.

"O-Oh! Th-that..." When she heard his question, the detective felt the heat rising to her cheeks again as she tried to construct the appropriate words to answer her lover's question. "It's just that... I... wanted you to know that I... truly care for you... And-and... When I was trying to figure out the way to do so, th-that's the only thing that crossed my mind at that time..." the sleuth answered hesitantly, while staring down at her shoes, unable to face the grey-haired teen beside her.

"Well, I always know that you do, though. Just... try not to overdo yourself, you shouldn't overdo yourself for other people's sake, not for mine too." the grey-haired youth answered while taking her right hand in his left one. When he did this, the other youth looked at him, and found a sincere, soft smile adorning his lips and his tender gaze as he looked at the distance. Seeing the face of her beloved one like that, she didn't realize that her lips formed the same soft and sincere smile like him while she gazed at their entangled fingers.

"You're the one who always do something for other's sake, you know?" the detective said. "... Moreover, I'm doing this for my own sake, following my own will..." she whispered softly.

Despite of the young leader's statement that he had always known about that, still, when he heard her last statement, he couldn't hide the happiness which started to beam from all over his face at that time.

* * *

**Author's Note: **How's it? I'm not really sure about this actually, since this is my first one-shot and I felt like I've made them OOC... *sigh* Please do drop reviews though, it will help me to have a clearer idea regarding how I've done for this story. Thank you. (I'm not sure with the word 'lower' there, should I use 'bow' instead?)


End file.
